"The hands that should caress my loving feet now caress the dragon."
Gomez Addams
Chapter 16: Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback
Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.
Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Erica would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.
But Erica still kept her eye on him. She hadn't imagined the anger in him at the Quidditch match. And she hadn't imagined the darkness in his eyes at the first match either.
But Snape's constant bad mood and sweeping glares still had her unsure of which man was guilty. She still couldn't be sure. So Erica silently watched the both of them. And silently stewed on her nerves. And silently continued to be Harry's vigilant protector.
Hermione, however, had more things than Snape and the Sorcerer's Stone on her mind. She had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away."
"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."
"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."
"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"
Erica had started studying for exams as well, maintaining different Muggle notebooks where she copied down all her yearly notes, and practicing different spells in the common room or dormitory. But she was far more lax about it than Hermione.
Harry and Ron still moaned at her for taking Hermione's side.
But unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as the girls. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Erica had gone home for the two week break to spend time with her mom, who was about to enter the third trimester of her pregnancy.
Chicken Nugget was definitely a girl (Erica had been giddy for days) and Melissa wanted her input on names and nursery designs. They were also going to be interviewing nannies over the holidays. Erica was excited to be home, despite the amount of homework she had, and the full moon that fell over the break.
"What about Ariadne?" Melissa suggested.
Melissa liked names from mythology. Her name was derived from Greek mythology, meaning "honey bee." Erica's name was derived from Norse mythology, and meant "eternal ruler" and "ever powerful."
They were going through mythological names for Chicken Nugget. They'd already nixed Athena, Hera, Aphrodite, Isis, Iris, Frigga, Minerva, Diana, Neith, Persephone, June, and Selene.
"Maybe," Erica said. "Daphne?"
"No," Melissa sighed. "I don't want her to get all the jokes about the Scooby gang."
"Fair," Erica agreed. "Calliope? Or Cassandra?"
"Ooh, I like Calliope." Melissa wrote it down. "How about… Kali?"
"Isn't she the Hindu goddess of death and destruction?"
"Mmm. Good point. Hestia?"
"Ooh, I like that one."
Melissa smiled and wrote it down.
"Okay." Melissa held up the list. "We have ten names. Astrid, Freya, Andromeda, Thalia, Helen, Aurora, Maia, Penelope, Calliope, and Hestia."
"Are we looking for both a first and a middle name?" Erica asked.
"No, I know what I want her middle name to be," Melissa said. "Grace."
Erica slowly smiled. That was her grandmother's name.
Grace Addams had been a wonderful woman who went by her middle name, Grace, because it was an odd name for the family. She thought it made her more unique than her given name. She had been an absolutely hilarious woman, and highly loving and encouraging. She had died of cancer when Erica was four years old. Erica didn't have many memories of the woman, mostly memories of stories her mom had told her, but what Erica remembered, she remembered with the utmost love and fondness.
"I like it," Erica said. Her smile softened. "And Grandma would be honored." Her smile turned cheeky. "And though I know Uncle Gomez and Grandmama will moan, they, too, will be pleased."
Uncle Gomez was not actually Erica's uncle, and Grandmama was not actually her grandmother. Uncle Gomez was Melissa's cousin, and Grandmama was her aunt, and Erica's great-aunt. But that was what Erica had always called them.
Grandma Grace had been Grandmama Eudora's younger sister. She had never married, and raised Melissa on her own. Single mothers seemed to be a family trait. As well as mythological and spiritual names.
"Astrid Grace?" Melissa said.
"It's actually kind of badass," Erica giggled. Melissa giggled as well.
"Freya Grace?" Melissa now made a face. "Maybe not."
"Yeah, I don't like that one as much," Erica agreed. "And I'm not sure I like Andromeda Grace, either."
"I agree," Melissa said.
The Addams women kept going through names, pairing them with Grace as a middle name.
In the end, they were left with these options: Astrid Grace, Helen Grace, Maia Grace, and Penelope Grace.
"What do the names mean?" Melissa asked.
Erica had a baby name book in her lap, and she flipped through it.
"Uh… Astrid means 'beautiful,' Helen means 'light,' and can also mean 'moon,' and even 'sun.' Maia, depending on its origin, can mean 'mother,' but it can also mean 'brave.' And Penelope… Penelope means 'weaver.'"
"Hmm…" Melissa tapped the pen against her chin, her other hand coming to rest against her swollen belly. "I like Astrid and Helen."
"Me too," Erica agreed. She suddenly had an idea. "Hey, what if we did Helena instead of Helen. To match us. You know — Melissa, Erica, Helena."
"Hmm…" Melissa smiled. It got wider and wider, until it lit up her whole being. "Helena Grace Addams. I like it."
She suddenly grimaced, her hand pressing to her middle. "Oooh, Chicken Nugget's kicking. I think she likes it too."
Erica grinned and instantly stuck her ear to her mom's belly. With her heightened hearing, she could hear Chicken Nugget's little heartbeat. Faint, but strong and steady. And right there against her mom, she could feel her sister kicking.
Erica beamed. She couldn't wait to be a big sister.
Harry and Ron, back at Hogwarts, didn't have nearly as much fun over break. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all the extra work.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Harry, who was looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' looking'," he said, in a shift voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter? Where's Erica?" He suddenly looked suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Erica's home with her mom. And we found out who Nicolas Flamel is ages ago," Ron said impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St —"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy —"
"SHHHH!" Hagrid said again. "Listen — come an' see me later, in a couple o' days. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh —"
"See you later, then," Harry said.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"
"I'm going to see what section he was in," Ron said, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," Harry said.
"But it's against our laws," Ron said. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden — anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."
"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry said.
"Of course there are," Ron said. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione said.
~)8(~
Two days later, Erica had returned from America, happy and bursting at the seams with excitement. She found them all about her baby sister's new name, and her new nanny, and her mom's new banana bread recipe.
But her little sister was quickly forgotten when her friends told her about Hagrid's suspicious behavior and their theory that he was trying to breed a dragon.
Erica's jaw dropped. "Is he crazy? There are a lot of dangerous creatures that would be far safer to raise. And less illegal, to boot."
"He's always wanted a dragon," Harry said. "He's fascinated with them."
"Lots of people are," Erica said. "Even Muggles. They're a huge part of Muggle mythology, ranging from Greece to China, even Norse and as far back as Mesopotamia. Lots of people are fascinated with dragons, but no one wants the equivalent of a fire-breathing, 60-foot-long, aggressive puppy in their backyard."
Later that afternoon, the four of them left the castle and ran down the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. When they knocked on his door, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Erica immediately shucked her outer robes. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So — yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," Harry said. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him.
"O' course I can't," he said. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts — I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," Hermione said in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry, Ron, and Erica beamed at Hermione.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout — Professor Flitwick — Professor McGonagall —" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell — an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah — yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Harry knew Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as he was. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything — except, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.
Erica was of another mindset. Dumbledore had likely planned the protection of the Stone meticulously. And though he was likely the only one to know all of the ways to get past the protection, Snape was more than a little brilliant. He also, according to the Weasley twins and Remus, was highly knowledgeable about both the Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts. So if Snape was as knowledgeable as it seemed he was… Why hadn't he just stolen the Stone already?
Unless, of course, he wasn't after it, like Erica was truly beginning to believe.
Dumbledore truly wouldn't keep someone as blatantly horrible around if he didn't have the utmost faith and trust in Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell's stutter and anxious demeanor, however, was an excellent cover. And he hadn't become the Defense professor through any amount of incompetence.
The more she thought about it, the more Erica solidly believed that Quirrell, in fact, was behind everything. Jinxing Harry's broomstick, the break-in at Gringotts, maybe even the troll at Halloween.
But there was something nagging in her mind that told her not to give up on Snape yet. Something was still wildly off about the dungeon bat.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" Erica asked, trying to mask both her curiosity and anxiety. She had a theory on how to get past the three-headed dog. She just hoped no one else would figure it out. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," Hagrid said proudly.
"I bet he wanted to put Fluffy first," Erica reasoned. "A three-headed, Cerberus-like god is a pretty good deterrent."
"That's what Dumbledore said." Hagrid's chest continued to swell with pride.
"Cerberus?" Ron rolled the unfamiliar word in his mouth. "What the bloody hell is that?"
"Tell you later," Erica said.
"Hagrid, can we have a window open?" Harry asked. "I'm boiling."
"Can't, Harry, sorry," Hagrid said. Harry noticed him glance at the fire. Harry looked at it, too.
"Hagrid — what's that?"
But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Ah," Hagrid said, fiddling nervously with his beard. "That's — er…"
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron asked, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."
"Won it," Hagrid said. "This las' weekend. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"Probably because it's illegal to have one in the first place," Erica muttered under her breath. Thankfully, only Hermione caught it.
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione said.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," Hagrid said, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library — Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit — it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here — how ter recognize diff'rent eggs — what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
Erica face-palmed. This would not end well.
~)8(~
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.
"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts.
Erica gloated that she hadn't gotten one, and that had they just studied regularly, Hermione wouldn't be pushing them.
The boys had simply rolled their eyes at her.
Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.
Ron had wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"
"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing —"
"Shut up!" Harry whispered.
Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
"Want another broken nose, Malfoy?" Erica sneered. "Get lost."
Malfoy quickly left.
Herbology was a nightmare. Ron and Hermione argued all class, but in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's hut with the other three during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the four of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.
Erica rushed about the hut, drawing the curtains as tightly closed as they could get. Then she ran over to the table, where her friends gathered.
The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.
They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.
It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" Hagrid said.
"Hagrid," Hermione said, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid was about to answer when something crunched outside. Followed by rapid footsteps disappearing. He leapt to his feet and ran to the window. Erica wasn't far behind him.
"What's the matter?"
Hagrid pulled aside the closed curtains and peeked outside. "Someone was lurking outside me hut — it's a kid — he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Erica bolted to the door and looked out, Harry right behind her. Even at a distance, there was no mistaking him.
Malfoy.
~)8(~
Even though they were sure Malfoy had no true proof that the dragon existed, something about the smile lurking on his face during the next week made Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Erica very nervous. They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut (making sure to keep the curtains tightly shut), and trying to reason with him.
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can't," Hagrid said. "He's too little. He'd die."
"Hagrid, you know this isn't right," Erica said. "Dragons aren't meant to live in houses. They're meant to be outside, where they can fly and hunt. You know this, Hagrid."
But Hagrid pretended not to have heard her.
The students looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," Hagrid said, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"
"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered in Harry's ear.
"Hagrid," Harry said loudly, "give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Someone could find out and go to Dumbledore at any minute."
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I — I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."
Harry suddenly turned to Ron.
"Charlie," he said.
"You're losing it, too," Ron said. "I'm Ron, remember?"
Erica gasped. "Harry, you're a genius."
Harry beamed, and explained. "Charlie — your brother. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant!" Ron said. "How about it, Hagrid?"
And in the end, Hagrid agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.
~)8(~
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron and Erica appeared out of nowhere as they pulled off Harry's Invisibility Cloak. They had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.
"It bit me!" Ron said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill right for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when we left, he was singing it a lullaby."
Erica sank into a chair with a heavy, furious huff. Norbert was a nightmare, sure, but Hagrid was worse. And between her pre-full moon migraines, all the extra work with both class and the dragon, and Hagrid's damn behavior, she was in a bad mood.
Hermione seemed to notice, because she said in a gentle voice, "Erica… Your balm…"
Erica inhaled deeply, biting her tongue against something scathing that Hermione didn't deserve, and withdrew a tin from her pocket. She opened it, and the smell of eucalyptus and menthol wafted over her. Erica swilled her fingers in the balm, gathering it on her fingers and spreading it over her eyebrows, her temples, under her nose, and along the back of her neck.
A few seconds passed, and Erica relaxed. The white willow bark, eucalyptus, and menthol balm tingled on her skin, and her headache almost immediately began to subside. She inhaled deeply, letting the smell calm her.
She felt better. Still in a bit of a foul mood, but better.
"Thanks," Erica muttered, pocketing the tin.
Hermione smiled.
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Donna!" Harry said, hurrying to let her in. They had sent Donna instead of Hedwig because Donna was used to long journeys. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"
Donna landed in front of Erica with a tired hood, and Erica quietly handed the letter to Ron. She lightly stroked her wonderful owl and leaned in to read the note.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter — I'd be glad to take
the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him
here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with
some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week.
Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight
on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him
away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
They looked at one another.
"We've got the Invisibility Cloak," Harry said. "It shouldn't be too difficult — I think the cloak's big enough to cover three of us and Norbert."
It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other three agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert — and potentially, Malfoy.
~)8(~
There was a hitch. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey — would she recognize a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.
Harry, Hermione, and Erica rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.
"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me — I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me — I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."
Erica was sure Malfoy would be doing this whether Ron and her had hit him or not.
Harry and Hermione were trying to calm Ron down.
"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione said, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.
"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no — oh no — I've just remembered — Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."
Harry, Hermione, and Erica didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.
~)8(~
There was another hitch. Saturday was May 16th. May 16th was the night of the full moon. And Erica's symptoms were the worst she'd ever had at Hogwarts. Full-blown migraines, complete irritability, inability to eat anything and now throw it up an hour later, extreme lethargy, unbelievable mood-swings, ridiculously high fevers, and constant aches and pains that had her passing out in the middle of a conversation with the Weasley twins.
After that, she was forced to confess to them that the only reason she'd been expelled from Ilvermorny was because she had a genetic condition that they didn't want to accommodate.
They promised to send Headmaster Fontaine an envelope of undiluted bubotuber pus.
Erica had been touched, but assured them that that wasn't necessary.
They conceded, but the gleam in their eyes had indicated that they were still considering doing something.
"Guys, think about it. You should be thanking him."
George frowned. "What?"
Fred frowned as well. "Yeah, what?"
Erica tried to smile, but she grimaced, because it hurt. "If he hadn't kicked me out, you two would've never met me. And that would've been a true tragedy."
The twins grinned together.
"Well, when you put it like that…" Fred said.
Erica almost laughed, but again, it hurt her to do so.
Madam Pomfrey seemed to sense that they were agitating Erica's pained state, because she soon shooed them out.
Erica napped for only an hour or so when Harry, Ron, and Hermione barged into the hospital wing to see her.
"Oh, Erica, what happened?" Hermione fussed. "I know you like to feel independent, but you could've come here straight away when you felt as bad as you did. To find out from Fred and George that you collapsed from pain, honestly, Erica, what were you thinking, something could've seriously been wrong. Please, you have to start taking care of yourself, you're about to be a big sister, so please take care of yourself, Erica. We can't have anything happen to you…"
Hermione continued to fuss and rant, smoothing out Erica's blankets almost obsessively.
"I brought your lavender balm," Hermione continued, "it's supposed to help with relaxation. And I also brought some books for you, in case you get bored."
Hermione placed the things on the table next to Erica's bed.
"Matilda," Erica said. She smiled briefly. "Thanks, Hermione."
"You sound tired," Harry observed.
"Being in this much pain for so long is exhausting," she sighed. "Madam Pomfrey's potions are helping, but she doesn't want to risk me building an immunity, or overdosing."
"Isn't there something else that can help?"
Erica shook her head, but stopped when her head pounded.
"Madam Pomfrey doesn't exactly use Muggle medicine. And if there's a spell to take away pain, then she's decided not to use it. I wouldn't mind being knocked out, but Madam Pomfrey wants to monitor me, make sure I don't have other underlying issues."
The white lies came out faster and easier than Erica realized. And it saddened her. She told herself it was necessary. No one could know about her lycanthropy. No one could know.
No one could know.
Soon, Erica's best friends were also shooed out of the hospital wing, and she was left to sleep until the full moon.
~)8(~
"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione as they walked down to Hagrid's hut together. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the Invisibility Cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."
They found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they arrived at the hut. The gamekeeper opened a window to talk to them.
"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage — nothin' I can't handle."
When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.
"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot — jus' playin' — he's only a baby, after all."
The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.
~)8(~
They could have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall. Then they'd had to stop outside the castle, when the most awful screams of pain they'd ever heard reached their ears. The light of the moon was not there to light their way, instead hidden behind dark clouds. So the screams turned their veins to ice. When it fell silent afterwards, they ran all the way down to Hagrid's hut.
Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.
"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," Hagrid said in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."
From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though the teddy bear was having his head torn off."
"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!"
How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another — even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.
Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you —"
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming — he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on — I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the Cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione did a sort of jig.
"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"
"Don't," Harry advised her.
Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.
Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.
At last, Norbert was going… going… gone.
They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon — Malfoy in detention — what could spoil their happiness?
The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.
Only four more chapters to go in this story! Let me know what you think of this chapter!
Sammiemoosam